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About GeoPrac.net

GeoPrac.net is a community of practitioners of geotechnical engineering, geological engineering, engineering geology, geophysics, hydrogeology and related disciplines. We offer members and visitors the foremost collection of geo-related articles, news, and online resources to keep those geo-professionals in practice at the forefront of their respective fields.

It's October 2 again, and today would have been Karl Terzaghi's 131st birthday. As I was reflecting on Terzaghi and some of his quotes, I was reading a passage from Professor's Goodman's biography1 that described a talk that he gave in 1924 entitled "The Way to Happiness." I thought this would be a nice change of pace from some of his more famous quotes and topics. Here are some selections from Goodman's description of the presentation.

...This stems from application of the law of selection, which "leads to the survival of the most clever, most reckless, and most hypocritical. There seems to be no fox hole left for the freedom of will... The validity of the fundamental laws provides that the fear of perishing and the desire to succeed dominate all other instincts."

"The very moment you overcome fear and desire you leave the domain governed by the law and you become free." In this spirit Terzaghi left his hearers with three rules to promote internal happiness, all of which contradict the laws pointing toward external success: 1) do not avoid suffering but welcome it as a way to augment your strength, 2) disregard market conditions and give your best effor no matter what and never produce something that is worthless even if the market says to do so, and 3) try to combine "the inflexible firmness of the man of action with the sensitivity and spontaneity of the artistic mind."

Geological software developer RockWare announced last month that their free update for RockWorks 16 contains over 75 changes since the previous update. And if anyone is counting, that's 672 changes since the initial release of RockWorks 16. They seem very receptive to user feedback, and very proactive with their new releases. I wish more geo-software companies were like that! [Source: The RockWare Blog. Image: RockWare Blog]

A seismologist at the University of Tokyo believes that the monstrous tsunami that was responsible for so much damage and loss of life during the 2011 Fukushima earthquake may have been a result of a submarine landslide the size of Paris. The researchers reached their conclusion by back-analyzing the wave motion measurements from buoys on the day of the earthquake. After modeling the size and approximate location of the landslide, other team members were able to compare bathymetry data from before and after the earthquake to locate the slide. [Source: Read more at Science/AAAS. Image: The Science Show]

Hayward Baker will construct their Vibro Piers(TM) foundation system at the new stadium to house the Atlanta Falcons and a new MLS team. Their holes will be 2.5 feet in diameter and 27 feet deep and filled with vibro compacted No. 57 stone. The project is anticipated to take 5 weeks, operating 6 days a week to keep the project schedule on track. Hayward Baker is a sponsor of GeoPrac.net. [Source: Hayward Baker. Image: Hayward Baker]

ENR's annual ranking of the Top 200 Environmental Firms has been released. Their survey ranks firms based on revenue, and the results of their survey show a growth of 4% from 2013 to 2014 to $53.7 billion which reverses the trend observed in last year's survey. [Source: Check out ENR: Engineering News Record to see the full top 200 list. Image: ENR]

The Arizona DOT and their contractor have begun blasting and earthwork to realign a portion of US 89 in northern Arizona near Page that was cut off by a large landslide in February of 2013. The massive blasting and excavation operation to push back the slope above the road will generate around 1 million cubic yards of material which will be used to construct a massive buttress at the toe of the slide. Check out the video below. [Source: ADOT YouTube Channel. Image: YouTube]

Scientists from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA used their Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR) technology to collect repeat measurements of the Napa Valley area to accurately map ground deformations from the August 24, 2014 earthquake. The special autopilot developed by NASA allows the C-20A aircraft to fly within 30 feet of its previous flight line surveys to collect high-resolution radar data. The data can be processed using interferrometric techniques to generate INSAR images that will tell geologists, engineers, seismologists, and planners how much movement occurred, including in soft sediment areas near the North Bay Aqueduct. [Source: NASA. Image: NASA Armstrong]

Providing geotechnical drilling parameters such as thrust, rotation, rate of penetration, and flush pressure will soon be incorporated into European Standard EN22574-15 and is already in BS5930. Having these parameters available gives geotechnical engineers another tool in the toolbox to characterize the subsurface. But I am not familiar with any drilling companies here in the US that can record and report this type of data. Does anyone use this technology in their practice? What kind of equipment is required on the drill rig to collect this data? Leave a comment, or tweet @geoprac. [Source: New Civil Engineer Ground Engineering news via Geotechnical Data Hub on LinkedIn. Image: ocarc.ca]

Hawthorne, NJ (August 21, 2014): S. Scot Litke, D.GE (Hon.) is the recipient of DFI’s highest award to an individual, the Distinguished Service Award. He is the 34th recipient of the award, honoring individuals chosen by their peers for exceptionally valuable contributions to the advancement of the deep foundations industry. The award will be presented on October 23, 2014, during DFI’s 39th Annual Conference in Atlanta.

Since 1982, Litke has been the editor of the ADSC’s (International Association of Foundation Drilling) Foundation Drilling magazine. He also held the position of Executive Director of the ADSC from 1982 to 2009. During this time, Litke managed over 25 drilled foundation and anchored earth retention research projects funded by the ADSC and FHWA. Litke was inducted into ADSC’s Hall of Fame in 2012.

[Editor] Click through for the rest of the press release from DFI [/Editor]

Hayward Baker (HB) recently began work on a $9.1 million ground improvement contract for the K-10 South Lawrence Trafficway (SLT) Project located in Lawrence, Kan. as a subcontractor to Emery Sapp & Sons, Inc. The project provides a significantly improved transportation infrastructure for the state, making it a top priority for the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT).

Current construction will complete the southern K-10 bypass from its intersection with US 59 to the existing K-10 east of Lawrence. Construction affects 58 acres of wetlands. However, mitigation agreements between KDOT, local government agencies, and the public will create and restore 317 acres of wetlands as well as restore, preserve, and create over 50 acres of habitats.

[Editor] Click through for the rest of the press release from GeoPrac sponsor Hayward Baker. [/Editor]

The new version of Rapid CPT (version 4.2) drastically improves performance. Depending on the dataset, the processing time is typically reduced by 80-95%. This is particularly important for customers with large datasets consisting of a hundred or more soundings where processing time previously took 3-4 hours which has been reduced to 10-15 minutes. Additionally, a new Cloud based licensing process eliminates the previous dongle based licensing which not only helps improve performance but makes it easier to deploy RAPID CPT across an organization. Lastly, Dataforensics has added an importer to support the Stratigraphics CPT format. This provides users who obtain data in the Stratigraphics format a simple single step import (like all other RAPID CPT importers) instead of manually manipulating the Stratigraphics Excel format to get it loaded into the system.

“Cone Penetration Testing (CPT) provides engineers with large amounts of data for analysis. Converting the raw data (usually a text file) to something useful that can be analyzed and reported is a tedious and cumbersome process. It requires significant amounts of manual data manipulation (moving, copying and pasting) and is prone to human error. Furthermore, the engineer must then manually calculate numerous parameters and correlations for follow-on design and analysis. Dataforensics CPT interpretation software, Rapid CPT, eliminates all manual data manipulation, providing a more complete and accurate interpretation of results, faster and easier than ever before.”

About Dataforensics

Dataforensics is a leader in deploying software applications that serve as core components for data and personnel management within geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering. Our solutions enable efficient, timely and accurate assessments. The resulting assessments are used to support analysis and design activities by the engineering and construction industries, as well as federal, state and local government organizations. For more information, please visit www.dataforensics.net